Back to the normal Inbox size. It really was getting old finding 30+ unread Google alerts. With Brigid finding herself overloaded with other work I looked wide and far to find an additional writer to help bring the wealth of news on manga I know everyone needs. News sites are about complete coverage anyways and the more writers I can get covering absolutely everything webcomic, the better. So if you’re an inspiring writer or an established one looking for a platform to spread your wealth, give me a call and we’ll see if we can work you onto the team.

If you’re reading about webcomic news chances are better than normal you’re using a Mac, and chances are outstanding you know how to use a Mac. Does that mean there’s going to be a revolution in webcomics with the release of the iPad? The general consensus is a big flat no. Comics Alliance did a decent round-up of creators and perhaps my favorite comment came from Ryan North: “All I can say now is that any device that makes webcomics easier to read in bed and on the toilet is one that gets a thumbs up from me.” For me it’s a chance to get a full screen portable machine. The iPhone has been providing that but frankly that tiny screen drives me nuts. Perhaps with the (max)iPad someone will get serious and develop a Photoshop app.

Valentine’s Day Brad Guigar raised a toast to daily comics. His first comic strip, Greystone Inn, debuted Valentine’s Day, 2000, and updated every Monday-Saturday for 5.5 years. The day after it ended in June 2005, Evil Inc began. Both ran in daily newspapers, including the Philadelphia Daily News. Evil Inc appears in front of an estimated 1.5 million newspaper readers a week. Guigar also produces Courting Disaster, and for a year-and-a-half, produced a weekly full-page comic, Phables, that shared stories about life in Philadelphia. Phables earned Guigar a nomination for the Eisner Award in 2007 — the highest honor in comics. His obsession continued with one cartooning book, “The Everything Cartooning Book,” and co-wrote  “How to Make Webcomics”. Editor-in-chief of Webcomics.com where you can find the popular podcast, Webcomics Weekly, that he co-hosts. With over 13 print collections and his appearances at conventions across the country it’s surprisingly his wife of 12 years hasn’t divorced him.

Life is so busy for me that it is rare that news of our co-founder Zampzon jumps up and slaps me. Apparently he’s some kind of activist in his home in the lone state and has been featured on the Dallas Art News. In early December they were running a special feature called Webcomics Imitating Art where  webcomic artists use their characters and style to recreate a famous work of art. Instead of the six works they expected they managed to receive nineteen valid entries. This has led to a new guest webcomic artist program where each artist will have 4-5 strips displayed on a per week basis. There are rules of course, but only eight of them. The best one being “Webcomic artists will retain all rights to their work.” Amazing…